This
page is to tell you a little bit about our life with Ridgebacks, and
show you some, not all, of the wonderful dogs we have owned and loved.
There are lots of pictures, mostly candid snaps rather than show photos,
but I think this makes them more interesting to the viewer. If you want
any details, you can always
me.

At the Hard Rock café, Harare ... Our first Ridgebacks, Fawn and Thika,
on one of their favourite spots in the garden

In 1987, just after I was married and went to live in
Harare, Zimbabwe, I obtained my first Ridgebacks -- after 6 months of
waiting with our name on the waiting list kept by Margaret Wallace at
the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club, we got two bitches as pets. We called them
Fawn (Mana Inyoka) and Thika (Mana Invusi), and they introduced us to
the breed. I was attracted to the breed because it was a local breed,
had short hair, a good reputation as a reasonable guard dog and reputed
to be a good companion dog with sensible attitudes towards children.
These qualities we found described the breed extremely accurately.

Fawn and Thika after a hard play in the garden

They were both born hunters, and apart from energetic
chasing games together, would spend hours tracking and stalking mopane
squirrels, mongooses (mongeese?), cane rats, neighbours' cats,
chameleons, crickets, lizards and the odd brown house snake --
fortunately, harmless. We had a large garden with all sorts of
fascinating places for dogs (and children) to explore and play in.
Chasing the winter-visiting storks who would forage for crickets in the
lawn was a favourite pastime, as was scrambling around on the large
doloritic rocks that were found in the garden in abundance --
picturesque, but a headache for gardeners!

Shady, Ranzi and Fawn, again hanging out at the Hard Rock café

Fawn was very wise and sensible, Thika was a bit of a
hippie, and always on the lookout for naughtiness. She very quickly
learnt how to slide the bolt on her kennel gate, so it had to be wired
shut to keep her in at night. If someone forgot to wire it closed, she
would let herself out and joyfully let everyone else out too, so they
could all go off and raise havoc together.

Fawn in a thoughtful mood

Life in Zimbabwe for a puppy includes an introduction to
chongololos -- sinister-looking but completely harmless millipedes. Here
is Sarula Azikara observing the sure but slow progress of a chongololo.

Top: Do you ever get the feeling something is
creeping up on you?

Middle: I hope it doesn’t touch me!

Bottom: Phew! It’s going!

We soon realised that we were interested in breeding
Rhodesian Ridgebacks, so back to the Club again to place an order for
another bitch puppy. I had seen a magnificent dog, Ch Toziveyi,
belonging to Alf Widdows in Harare, and was happy to wait for his next
litter. From Mrs Hangartner’s bitch Makwadiba Pfava, we were able to
obtain Munyoro of Sarula. Munyoro means sweet and gentle in the local
Shona language, and that is exactly what Shady, as we called her, was.
Shady had a devoted fan club, and introduced many visitors very
favourably to the breed. Her doting aunt Fawn took her under her wing
and the two of them would spend hours snoozing on the driveway in the
winter sun.

Fawn and Shady sunning on the driveway.

Shady grew to be a sweet natured and amusing member of
the family. She was one of those dogs who would “talk back at you”
if you ticked her off, and she had a wonderful smile and great sense of
humour. She had one peculiarity unlike any Ridgeback I have had before
or since, and that was barking at aeroplanes, usually if they were at
extremely high altitude and you could barely see them. She reserved her
fiercest barking for hot air balloons (a popular pastime in Zimbabwe
during the winter months) and when once a microlight flew overhead, I
could see she wished very hard to sprout wings so she could chase it in
the sky!

Shady (Munyoro of Sarula)

She enjoyed showing and she particularly enjoyed
motherhood. Shady was a wonderful brood bitch and produced some lovely
pups, shown below.

Some of Shady’s brood

Sarula Aziko, daughter of Shady, helping out
with kitchen renovations in Harare

Sarula Forosi, son of
Shady, 6 months, Austria

Sarula Azola, another
daughter of Shady, Denmark

Sarula Barika, son of
Shady, Zimbabwe

Much later in life, Shady went to live with the two
Jennys on Kandy Farm in Mazoe. (Black Jenny was owned by Phillip, Brown
Jenny was owned by Antonia -- Phillip and Antonia got married. Got it?)
You can see that Shady adored life on the farm, and continued to make
friends, talk back, and bark at aeroplanes.

Life on Kandy Farm for Shady, 2000 -- old but still sprightly -- with
the two Jennys.

Our plan was to have two breeding bitches and we were
very fortunate to also obtain Mushana Ranzi of Sarula. She was a very
appealing puppy who grew into a striking looking bitch, who absolutely
was bored to tears with the show ring! She loved riding around in the
car, but never wanted to get out at the other end, no matter where. Talk
about a home girl -- she didn’t even like going for walks!

Ranzi preferred being at home, lazing in the garden, more than anywhere
else.

Ranzi investigating one of Shady’s pups, held by Winnie (who helped
raise children and puppies!)

Some time later I started looking around for a stud dog.
There were some wonderful dogs in Harare, but I wanted to get something
along the same lines, but just a bit “further away” genetically. I
had to spend some time in South Africa, and so visited a number of
breeders and viewed various puppies. I eventually chose a pup from Steph
Potgieter’s dog Ch Pronkberg Matange and we brought home Rustig
Mooketsi of Sarula.

Cradlesnatcher! Ranzi checks out baby Mooketsi

Mooketsi - - standing still...

...and striding out.

Mooketsi in his twighlight years, Harare.

Mooketsi was very much a male Ridgeback -- he couldn’t
stand the sight of another male dog, and only had time for his girls,
apart from being devoted to his human family. He was a splendid
watch-dog, a brilliant companion and a most successful show and stud
dog. He and Ranzi had some marvellous litters together, and produced
some lovely offspring.

All of the batch below were sired by Ch Rustig Mooketsi of Sarula, from
Ch Mushana Ranzi of Sarula.

Sarula Charara with spotty friend, South Africa

Sarula Chikadzi

Ch Sarula Chikadzi, Germany

Ch Sarula Etosha, Zimbabwe

Ch Sarula Ensitha, Colombia, South America

Ensitha in Bogota, Colombia, with some pals on the way to a show ... I’d
look embarrassed too!

Sarula Chirapi, Denmark

Ch Sarula Gadzinina, Denmark

It always helps to have helpers! Two of the Mooketsi/Ranzi babies.
We kept a bitch puppy from this pair, Sarula Gukatiwa, whom we called
Tiwa.

Three Wicked Sisters -- Gwiza, Gadzinina and Gukatiwa with Michael

Ch Sarula Gukatiwa
in 1997. Tiwa and I have had some special moments together.

Tiwa became a successful mother too. One year we took
her down to South Africa to be mated to Ch Benji of Cartouche. This was
a “fruitful” liaison, and from this litter of pups we kept Sarula
Inzila, or Molly as we called her. She was very like her mother Tiwa.

Sarula Inzila, known as Molly

Molly

In 2000 we realised it was time to leave Zimbabwe
because of the social, political and economic problems there. At this
stage we had Tiwa, Mooketsi, and Molly with us. Apart from Shady, who
was living with friends on their farm, our other Ridgebacks had passed
on over the years and we had these three to think of. We thought hard
and decided to put them through the 7 month quarantine period for
Australia, and bring them with us, which we did.

It was a very emotional time when they were finally
released, although I had visited them from Queensland every month in
Perth while they were at the Byford station.

We now live on the Sunshine Coast, in Queensland,
Australia. Life has been challenging in many ways for both humans and
canines. For the dogs, getting used to the beach was a surprise (the
water moves!!!!!!!) and no mongoose to chase, but other furry beasts
like possums in trees (who can stay still for a really long time, like
hours!) and our feathered friends the brush turkeys, keep the hunting
instinct alive.

Molly (left) and Tiwa (right) spying on a possum in the next door
neighbour’s garden

We have bred two litters of puppies in Australia, both
from Tiwa. One litter was sired by Ch Chilolo Boomerang, and the other
sired by a recently imported Zimbabwean dog called Takunda. Both litters
produced lovely healthy puppies.

Tiwa and pups 2004

We plan to occasionally breed further litters
retaining the African lines of our Ridgebacks.